


The Aftermath

by eavk



Series: Catkkuno is Ruining My Life [4]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: DO NOT REPOST OR COPY TO ANOTHER SITE, Fluff, Jealousy, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, they're playing rust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 04:14:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28575831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eavk/pseuds/eavk
Summary: “Well, if it isn’t the catboys!”“Ludwig! Oh god, uh-”“Hey Lud.” Corpse greeted, a small smile forming on his face.“I didn’t know you took joining the Naughty Kitten Clan so seriously, Sykkuno!”Sykkuno laughed, “Oh right, yeah. Hey Corpse, have you met them, yet? They’re actually super nice!”“I haven’t yet, but I’ve heard good things.”“I have a feeling Corpse would love them.” Ludwig said, then turned to Sykkuno. “Well as the dedicated reporter I am in this land, I must ask, what led you to post those pictures? Did you post knowing the utter chaos that would ensue? And most importantly, why wasn’t I invited?”
Relationships: Corpse Husband & Sykkuno (Video Blogging RPF), Corpse Husband/Sykkuno (Video Blogging RPF)
Series: Catkkuno is Ruining My Life [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2071920
Comments: 27
Kudos: 596





	The Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> this is a continuation of “matching cat ears” and is double posted as a one shot in a series and as a chapter in “catkkuno is ruining my life”

As soon as Sykkuno booted up his stream his chat was flooded with comments about the pictures he and Corpse posted yesterday. He fully expected it, he already avoided twitter after he initially posted it because he knew how much chaos it would cause. Not because there was another picture of himself in cat ears, but solely because he had posted a picture of Corpse. It was an impulse decision and while he doesn’t regret doing it, he’s surprised at himself with how willing he was to go along with it. He didn’t allow himself to think too hard about it though. 

“Hey guys…” Sykkuno greeted his chat but the comments were flying by. He busied himself with setting up Rust. “So it’s another chill Rust day, or at least I hope it will be.”

He normally tried to school his face into a neutral expression, but every comment was about his tweet and he couldn’t stop himself from breaking into a shy smile. “Okay, okay, uh. Everyone seems to be talking about one thing, hmm.” He brought a hand to his head. “Well, what can I say, guys?”

He read out a comment, _“‘Why did you guys post those pictures?’_ Well, I mean were they bad?” He read another comment, _“‘You and Corpse are adorable.’_ Well thanks, I think! Okay, let me explain guys. So basically, Corpse wanted to show his appreciation for that professional cat ear girl, but he was a bit nervous posting that picture so I thought I’d help him out, you know?” 

_“‘You guys broke twitter.’_ No no, I don’t think we did. It was just for fun and to show our appreciation.” He finished fixing up his scene. “Okay, well like I said, just a chill day on Rust today.” He said, effectively (not really) changing the subject.

“Let’s see who’s online, oh wow! Almost everyone on our team is online.” He checked the map to see where people were. “Corpse is missing? Yeah, looks like it. Maybe he’ll join later. But- but looks like Corpse _really is_ a cat now, get it? Because his name in the game is _Corpse Cat!”_ Sykkuno joked, covering his face in embarrassment. “… well anyways.”

Sykkuno spent some time looking through his chests to see if everything was still there then asked his team where they were in the game chat. He stocked up on a few things then made his way out of his house when he heard a familiar voice stop him.

“Sy?”

“Oh!” Sykkuno turned back to the house to see Corpse standing at the door. “Corpse! You’re here! I just logged on, too.”

“Oh hey, yeah how are you?”

“Good, good. I was just about to meet up with Ash and Rae, they’re over at the police station again. Wanna come?”

Corpse agreed, “Yeah, let’s head over-”

“Well,” came another voice, “if it isn’t the catboys!” 

They watched him approach on a horse before jumping off. “Ludwig! Oh god, uh-” 

“Hey Lud.” Corpse greeted, a small smile forming on his face.

“I didn’t know you took joining _the Naughty Kitten Clan_ so seriously, Sykkuno!”

Sykkuno laughed, “Oh right, yeah. Hey Corpse, have you met them, yet? They’re actually super nice!”

“I haven’t yet, but I’ve heard good things.”

“I have a feeling Corpse would love them.” Ludwig said, then turned to Sykkuno. “Well as the dedicated reporter I am in this land, I must ask, what led you to post those pictures? Did you post knowing the utter chaos that would ensue? And most importantly, _why wasn’t I invited?”_

“O-oh, uh- do you like cat ears too, Lud?”

“Well, I mean I wouldn’t be opposed in trying them on-”

“Hey don’t worry man,” Corpse replied. “What’s your favorite color? I’ll hook you up.” 

Sykkuno giggled at the slight change in topic, glad that he didn’t have to answer Ludwig’s pressing questions. He busied himself with finding out where everyone was as their dots kept moving on the map. He shot them another message asking where they were headed to now. 

Ludwig’s voice pulled him back into the conversation. “Hey Sykkuno, you go on that date with Shroud, yet? Only a few days left on the server, gotta cash that in soon.”

“What- ohhh, right you _sold_ me to Shroud.”

“It was an exchange.” Ludwig glanced over to Corpse. “Hey Corpse, you don't mind, right?”

He laughed at the implication. “Yeah, Sykkuno’s a free man.” Then added on, “I trust him.”

“That’s great! That little green monster, _jealousy,_ is one sick disease.” He spoke to Sykkuno, “He’s a keeper.”

“Oh god, alright well I’m leaving, uh-” he checked the chat to see that they left the police station. Based on the back to back death notifications, he could understand why. “I think Rae said she was over by her base up South-” Sykkuno rushed out before promptly walking away. Corpse smirked then said bye to Ludwig before following Sykkuno towards Rae’s house. 

It wasn’t too far away and they made idle conversation on their walk over. They talked about anything other than the obvious elephant in the room, Sykkuno ignoring his chat altogether only pausing to thank subs every now and then. Corpse spent an entire minute going into full detail about a banana he ate that morning and Sykkuno had to suppress his grin at the way his chat was going crazy in desperation. It was a mess of people screaming that they weren’t addressing the tweets and the other half saying to chill out. His mods eventually put the chat on sub-mode. 

They only stopped walking for a few seconds when Corpse realized how low his hunger bar was and begged for food after failing at trying to shoot a deer. The two came upon the rest of their group a few minutes later. 

“Hi Rae and Ash! Oh, and Jack and is that Brooke? Fancy seeing you all here.” Sykkuno said as he walked up to them. 

“Brooke.” Corpse muttered under his breath, jokingly addressing his rival. He hadn’t run into her in a while. 

Sykkuno’s cheerful greeting fell flat as the group hushed into silence as he and Corpse approached them. “Um- guys?”

Rae was the first to speak. “Hey Sykkuno… Corpse…”

“Uh- how was the police station? Did you get some good loot?”

“Yeah, yeah… the usual.” Rae said slowly. 

“You- you okay, Rae?” Sykkuno asked, confused. 

“Yeah, everything’s good, we got some more guns from a raid earlier and Ash looted Goblin’s gun off him before we left.” Rae walked up to them. “So… that picture you guys posted…” 

Sykkuno tilted his head, feigning innocence. “Oh, what picture?”

“Shut up, Sykkuno.” Rae responded immediately.

“W-what?!”

Corpse listened silently, amused. His likes page on twitter was filled with all of their friends' reactions to the tweets, most of them aww-ing and saying how cute they were. Rae’s was a simple _“OH MY GOD WTFFFF”_ while Karl had replied, _“my heart can’t take this!!!!.”_ His favorite though was Dream’s reply, _“maybe I’ll join in… #catearreveal?”_ It was also funny how much the responses differed based on whose tweet they were replying to. Corpse hoped his own fandom wasn’t too intense responding to the picture of Corpse that Sykkuno tweeted. 

“So, we’re just gonna act like they didn't announce that they're dating, or-?” Jack said. 

Sykkuno sputtered, “We’re _not_ \- w-what are you guys saying, what-”

“Yeah Jack, they're _married.”_ Rae said, grinning. 

“Oh jesus, oh my god-”

“You know, I never thought I’d see Sykkuno wearing a collar.” Ash snickered. “I’m not surprised though, Corpse _has_ been recruiting people to be furries with him,” she said, cackling.

Corpse made a sound of indignation, finally speaking up. “I’m not a- I told you, _there’s a difference-”_

“Hey, I thought the picture was cute!” Brooke came in, surprisingly defending him.

“Okay, Brooke. You can join the alliance.” Corpse said to her. 

_“Yes!”_ She laughed, “is that all it took?” 

“You know, my twitter app actually glitched because of you two. Poor twitter guy, having to caption that.” Jack said. 

Rae agreed. “My timeline was filled with cat ears.”

“Corpse, you’ve started a bloody furry revolution!” Ash said, laughing harder. 

“I-”

Suddenly, they heard a grenade exploding nearby, stopping their teasing as they all shouted, wondering what happened. Corpse realized he didn’t hear Sykkuno’s signature catchphrase at the commotion and his attention focused back on him. 

At the sound of another grenade exploding, the group started heading towards Rae’s base to hide. Corpse barely reacted that time, his focus on Sykkuno’s silence distracting him. He waited near the back, slowing down so he could talk to him. 

“Sykkuno?” Corpse said in a slightly lower voice to not get the attention of the others.

It was quiet for a moment before Sykkuno replied. “It's just memes, guys- oh, what’s up Corpse?” 

“Yeah.” Corpse responded, even though he knew that first part was Sykkuno talking to his chat. Maybe that’s why he wasn’t saying anything in game. He continued. “Hey Sy, you okay?”

“Oh yeah, why?” 

“Just, you know, the teasing.” Corpse explained. 

“Oh no, it’s fine! I expected it.” The tone in Sykkuno’s voice was normal, but Corpse was still hesitant.

“You sure?”

“Yeah! Don’t worry about it! But c’mon, let’s hurry before someone shoots us!” 

Corpse followed along as Sykkuno rushed to catch up with the group, but he was still worried. 

Inside the safety of Rae’s house, they prepped their materials and filled up their health bars. Corpse laughed along with the others whenever someone would inevitably bring the cat ears and pictures up, but he still couldn’t tell if Sykkuno was actually bothered by the joking or not. 

Corpse told them he’d be afk for a while then walked back outside. He stood behind a scattering of trees to hide himself then opened up Sykkuno’s stream. This wasn’t his first time opening up the other’s stream while they were playing together. He was sure he was out of hearing range, but still made sure to lower the volume this time, so it wasn't obvious he was stream sniping. He wasn’t surprised to see that Sykkuno had almost a hundred thousand live viewers. The word cat and ears appearing in every other comment in chat. His legs were shaking from his nerves, getting mad at himself for not realizing how toxic the reaction could be on Sykkuno’s end and how he’d have to face it all by himself.

He stopped as soon as the image of Sykkuno popped up on his screen looking genuinely giddy, expression bright. His shoulders were relaxed and he barely hid his smile when he laughed. Whenever he was happy it was evident in the way his eyes shined and the way his confidence rolled off of him. Corpse smiled. 

His character was too far away from where Sykkuno and Jack were talking, but the audio was clear as he watched from Sykkuno’s stream. 

“-you two are adorable!”

Sykkuno laughed shyly, eyes scrunching, “Thanks Jack, but I think Corpse is the one who stole the show, I just helped!”

“Corpse is a cutie but so are you.”Jack insisted. “My kitty Sykkunie! Kittykkunie!” 

Corpse grin widened at the way Jack was smothering Sykkuno with praise. He deserved it. He glanced at the chat again and saw it was relatively tame, all things considered. Corpse let out a sigh of relief. 

“Oh my god, you guys I’m getting sick.” Rae joked, running away from them to go over to Ash who was by the furnace. 

Corpse laughed as Sykkuno stuttered at the attention, but his wide smile barely hidden by his hand was clear. Was Sykkuno... was he _enjoying_ this?

With one last look at him, Corpse exited out of Sykkuno’s stream then moved his own character again. He left where he was hiding and walked over to the group who were now standing outside Rae’s entrance, loaded up with full health. “Hey guys, I’m back. Sykkuno, wanna go to the oil rig now?” He remembered Sykkuno mentioning it earlier on their way towards Rae’s.

“Oh yeah! Hey guys wanna go back to the oil rig? I’ve been wanting to check it out again.”

“Yeah, this time you can be on stream when you shank ten scientists in a row.” 

“Oh no, no. I just got luck-“

_“Shut up,_ Sykkuno!”

“Oh jesus, is that your new catchphrase or something, Rae?”

_“Yeah,_ I’ve had it with you! Ever since Valorant-” 

The others agreed on their plan under the shouts of Rae and Sykkuno fondly bickering and as they started their trek over, they heard a familiar voice in the distance. 

“Hey, guys!”

“Oh my god, it's Goblin.” Ash said, raising the gun she had stolen off his dead body earlier. “Get the fuck away!” 

“That explains the explosions earlier.”

“Hey, I come in peace! I was actually looking for someone.” XQC said, raising his character's arms in the air. Ash didn’t lower her gun. 

Shkkuno walked up to him. “Oh hey Goblin, hope you’re doing well!”

“Sykkuno!”

Everyone made an audible sound of confusion at the peppy shift in XQC’s tone. Sykkuno himself was thrown off a bit. “Oh- um hey, you sound very uh- happy. But, that's a good thing! Um, whats up?”

“I've been looking for you.”

“W-What? Are you gonna hold me hostage again or something?” Sykkuno joked. 

“No, I wouldn't do that. Or, I wouldn’t do it _again._ How are you?”

“Um, I’m good, yeah.”

“So I see you’ve been blowing up twitter.”

“Oh no, um-“

“I came by to tell you how cute you looked!” 

_“What?!”_ Sykkuno said, shocked. The others gasped around him and Corpse simply raised an eyebrow.

“That picture you posted-”

“I actually posted it.” Corpse’s words were drowned out as his low voice rumbled underneath the others talking. 

“-you should wear cat ears more often.” XQC finished. 

Corpse spoke up again, a little louder. “Yeah… _he should.”_

“Oh- um thanks, I think?” Sykkuno said timidly. 

“What the fuck happened to X?” Corpse could hear Ash saying further away. 

“Oh god, is he _actually_ simping for Sykkuno now?” Rae responded before laughing at how ridiculous it seemed. 

“The fuck happened between them when he was hostage?” Jack chimed in. 

Corpse barely heard their conversation as he focused and listened to XQC continue, “And that collar, didn’t think you’d be into that-“

“U-Uh-“ Sykkuno stuttered. 

“I didn’t think _I’d_ be into that, too” 

_“Alright.”_ Corpse’s voice suddenly boomed. He walked over to them. “Sy, is this guy bothering you?”

He knew XQC was joking, his exaggerated tone clear as day, at least to Corpse. But even just jokingly simping was unexpected of the streamer. Sykkuno seemed like he was getting uncomfortable, but honestly, Corpse was barely paying attention to Sykkuno. His own emotions were taking over. He was staring hard at XQC, his words suddenly felt like nails on a chalkboard. Corpse resisted the urge to grab the knife laying next to him on his desk in real life. 

Sykkuno, probably sensing something had shifted, quickly spoke up. “No, no it’s fine, uh- Goblin is my friend now, I think?” Sykkuno said, unsure. “But- but uh, here how about this, would you like to join us? We were heading towards the oil rig, we can all be friendly and split up the loot there?” Sykkuno suggested. 

XQC immediately agreed and Rae scoffed. “Wow, I’m convinced that Sykkuno can literally pull anyone at this point.” 

“I don't think I’ve ever heard X talk like this before.” Ash whispered. 

“Let’s go together, Sykkunie!” XQC said walking closer to Sykkuno. 

“Oh god, that’s what Jack calls me…”

“Can I call you that?” 

Corpse looked around to see if Jack was still nearby but it seemed like he was just out of hearing range. He grunted. Corpse wondered if anyone else was as annoyed as he was feeling right now. Ash and Rae were on the sidelines, seemingly watching the exchange like it was a movie. 

“Uh- yeah that’s fine, you can um, call me whatever you want! I guess, haha.”

XQC laughed, “You're too sweet, Sy.”

Corpse felt his fingers twitch on his keyboard at the sound of Corpse’s nickname for Sykkuno come out of XQC’s mouth. His grip on his mouse tightened. 

The group started walking and Corpse followed silently, close behind Sykkuno. 

“Hey, I never got to show my thanks for how nice you’ve been to me, Sy.” XQC spoke up again. 

“Oh that's okay, uh- I just wanted you to have fun you know?

“Oh, I had lots of fun.”

“Well, that’s great! That’s all that matters, right? Thanks for not killing me that one time. O-or I guess a lot of times.” Sykkuno laughed. 

“Of course. I’ve never killed you on purpose, yet.” 

“Yet?”

“Well it’s hard when you’re on an enemy team.” XQC replied, then said in a gentle voice, “hey actually, why don't you join my team, Sy?”

“Wh-what?!”

Again, the sound of confusion and shock rippled through as everyone was completely bewildered at the way XQC was acting. Corpse was silent. 

“B-but I already have a team, you know? Friendly folks at J-10.”

“Eh, mine’s better.” 

“U-uh.”

XQC continued, smugly. “Maybe in the next server, you can be our weapon supplier. In exchange I’ll keep you safe when I rule the world. What do you say? You can be my-”

The sudden sound of a single gunshot had everyone screaming. 

_**Corpse_Cat** shot **GOBLIN** using their Double Barrel Shotgun at a distance of 1.3 meters._

“Oh jesus!”

“Oh my god, Corpse!”

“What happened?!”

“Sorry,” Corpse said in a flat tone, switching his gun out for a rock again. “My finger slipped.”

_**Paddleman** : LOLOLOL_

**Author's Note:**

> written due to popular demand! this was a lot of fun to write and i’ve been absolutely loving all the rust content so here’s my ode to the first server while we wait for the new one. there's lots of references in here, so hopefully it wasn't confusing haha
> 
> sorry this took a while to post and since school’s starting back up soon for me i probably won’t be posting as often? but you know me, i go into a frenzy whenever a new moment happens haha so i’m sure i’ll post a new fic every now and then. thanks for reading! 
> 
> but if you haven’t already, check out my other fics! because for some damn reason this is my twentieth (20th!!!??) work for this ship… i need a life.


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